Superb Napoleonic Wars, British Officer's Sabre With Captured French 'Trophy' Mamluk Guard Officer's Damascus Blade, With An Ancient Egyptian Serpent Goddess Hilt. For an Officer Who Served in The Nile Campaign

New photographs added to include the identical Damascus blade, bearing a Mamluke head, of the Philippe Missilier Collection exceptionally rare sword of an officer of the Mamluk Imperial Guard, Ist Empire, {see photo 9 in the gallery}Gilt bronze entwined twin serpent hilt, influenced by the Egyptian Goddess Wadget, chisselled in great detail and of very fine quality. Talisman symbolic, Napoleonic Damascus blade, from an officer of the elite Napoleonic Mamluke Guard Circa 1800. There is another blade known, of identical example on another sword from an officer of the French Napoleonic Mamluke Guard, formerly in the Philippe Missillier collection, that appears in Aries seminal work on french Napoleonic swords, and Michel Pétard's work of similar renown, with all the same iconography within the design, and, upon a damascus blade. This sword is extraordinarily rare, as the officer corps of the Mamluk guard would likely number less than a half hundred, and how many survive to today, may possibly be less than a half dozenCertainly a war trophy blade and scabbard used by a British officer that served at the Battle of the Nile, thus, it also has Nile Club connections. There are numerous examples of snakes depicted in Napoleonic swords, such as the Lloyds Patriotic Fund swords, but usually combined with other beasts, such as lions, tigers or hounds, but to have two opposing entwined serpents alone is very rare indeed. Without a doubt this hilt design was inspired by Wadjet, the ancient Egyptian serpent goddess.Snake sculpture - the Staff of Aesculapius, the Staff of Mercury, and the Embodiment of Wisdom Snakes are fairly frequent in Georgian sculpture, and of course from other periods. In art generally in fact from medieval times onwards, the snake is also associated with wisdom, and in this capacity is often found with statues of Prudence. The way this sword is constructed shows it is a trophy blade, of a mamaluke officer captured in combat, and then mounted. The mamaluke officers sword, was etched with talismanic symbols of a crescent moon, sun, Mamluks turbaned head, and a stand of arms, upon fine Damascus steel .In fact the whole sword may indeed now be described as iconically talismanic. The blade is in superb condition, with its original steel combat scabbard, also in excellent condition, and the English zoomorphic hilt is, furthermore, excellent too .Egyptian gods and goddesses, much famed in ancient Egypt, become hugely popular throughout Western artistic culture in the early 19th century.Europe became beguiled by ancient Egyptian art and architecture in all its forms, and furniture designers and sculptors particularly, eagerly created the 'Egyptian style' in the Regency period England, and the Consular and Directoire period in France.The Nile Club' (often referred to historically as the Egyptian Club) was an exclusive group of senior British officers who fought under the command of Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson at the decisive Battle of the Nile on August 1–3, 1798.Key details regarding this group and its connection to the Napoleonic Wars include:Formation and Purpose: Following their massive victory at Aboukir Bay, which stranded Napoleon in Egypt, the captains of Nelson's fleet formed thismost exclusive club to celebrate and commemorate the action.The club included the captains of the ships present at the battle, such as Captains Sir F. Berry (Vanguard), T. Trowbridge (Culloden), R.W. Miller (Theseus), and A.J Ball (Alexander).The 'Nile' Dirks/Swords: Members were entitled to wear a special sword or dirk featuring a Nile Crocodile on the hilt to signify their participation. Marines and Army may have had the associated Egyptian snake god hilt, or, another option, the camel head hilted sabre.These weapons are now considered rare historical artifacts.Connection to Trafalgar: Many of the officers in the Nile Club continued to serve under Nelson and were likely present at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, where they would have worn their Nile-associated swords with pride.The last photo in the gallery shows a photograph of one section of the collection in the museum of Waterloo, taken in around 1900, showing all the weapons of Waterloo en situ, including all the protagonists {British, French, Prussian and Belgian muskets, swords, pistols, armour uniforms, etc}. The museum was founded and owned by a veteran of the 7th Hussars that fought at Waterloo.Overall in superb condition, Scabbard throat lacking.Overall 39 inches long, blade 32 inches